'The canary in the coal mine?' What teacher layoffs in one city could
mean for U.S. schools
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[December 09, 2020]
By Andy Sullivan
(Reuters) - Shortly before school began in
September, administrators in Schenectady, New York, laid off more than
400 teachers, aides and other employees -- roughly one out of every five
school workers.
Now teachers in this aging industrial city outside Albany must handle
classes of up to 32 students, with few aides to help. Pre-kindergarten
has been canceled and high school is taught entirely online. A support
program for kids who often come to school hungry and unwashed has been
eliminated.
"Our poor kids are suffering, and we really don't know who to blame,"
said Carol Mould, who quit her job as a nurse to supervise her 6-year
old and 9-year-old boys.
With budgets battered by the coronavirus pandemic, state and local
governments across the United States have laid off nearly 700,000
workers this year, according to U.S. government data, equal to 8.4% of
the workforce. Advocates warn that Schenectady's experience could become
commonplace if Washington does not provide more help.
"Some people say that maybe we're just the canary in the coal mine,"
said schools Superintendent Aaron Bochniak.
Congress approved $280 billion in state and local aid in March, but has
been deadlocked since then, with some Republicans objecting to aid for
what they view as free-spending local and state governments. Lawmakers
are scrambling to pass some form of coronavirus stimulus in a year-end
spending package, though it is not clear if it will include school aid.
Declining tax revenues and additional costs due to the pandemic, such as
buying laptops for students who need them to work from home, will amount
to a nationwide educational shortfall of up to $246 billion, or 18% of
projected spending, over the next two years, according to Michael
Griffith, a senior researcher at the Learning Policy Institute.
RAINY-DAY FUNDS RUNNING DRY
States have been able to cover much of the gap so far by tapping
rainy-day funds using onetime budget maneuvers. That probably won't be
possible next year.
"Everything you can do to cushion the blow as a state has been done at
this point," Griffith said.
At least 14 states cut education spending this year in response to the
COVID-19 crisis, according to the National Conference of State
Legislatures.
Some communities, like Littleton, Colorado, voted to raise property
taxes to offset state cuts. Others, from Vancouver, Washington to
Frederick County, Maryland, have handed out hundreds of pink slips.
In New York, the state government reduced school payments by 20% in
July, August and September, and warned it might have to extend those
cuts through the school year. So far, it has not done so.
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Louise Elementary School teacher Lori Heard teaches her students in
a classroom with plastic partitions, during the coronavirus disease
(COVID-19) pandemic in Louise, Texas, U.S., November 20, 2020. /File
Photo
Because that aid is tilted toward poorer schools, affluent areas
have been less affected.
The whiter, wealthier suburbs outside Schenectady boosted school
budgets by 2% over the summer, in line with previous years.
In Schenectady, a former manufacturing hub of 66,000 people, the
city government raised property taxes and trash-collection fees. The
school board laid off 423 teachers, janitors and other workers.
Many students were already struggling before the pandemic. Only 16%
of grade schoolers were found to be proficient in math in 2019,
one-third the statewide average.
State aid accounts for 69% of the school budget, and officials
decided they needed to slash costs immediately.
Layoffs fell most heavily on the social workers and teachers' aides
who had been hired to support students who were struggling with
academic or behavior problems -- a reflection, educators say, of
difficult home lives in a city where nearly one in five households
lives in poverty.
Those students are now more likely to fall behind, officials say.
"It's an awful thing as a school community to grapple and deal
with," said Bochniak, the superintendent.
Because state aid is partially determined by a district's overall
budget, this year's could lead to lower levels of state aid for
years to come.
In Schenectady, those laid off in September are trying to move on
with their lives. Social worker Lindsey Esposito has found work
elsewhere, but says she worries that her former students are not
getting the help they need.
"These kids are struggling. They were struggling before COVID, and
everybody looks past them," she said. "You get frustrated about it,
but you just figure you've got to move on."
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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